November Cruising Eastern Aegean

[mocruising]

We are late cruising in Greece and Turkey on the Eastern Aegean. The weather is lovely with great sailing winds. Many of the tavernas in the small places are closed up but there are still places open. We have been welcomed by the ones that remain open for business. We have never cruised this late in the season but will do so again and probably miss out July and August like we did this year. Many deserted anchorages its heaven.

 

[Appleyard]

We are late cruising in Greece and Turkey on the Eastern Aegean. The weather is lovely with great sailing winds. Many of the tavernas in the small places are closed up but there are still places open. We have been welcomed by the ones that remain open for business. We have never cruised this late in the season but will do so again and probably miss out July and August like we did this year. Many deserted anchorages its heaven.

Just be aware that you have to get your holding tank pumped out every day,and have the blue card stamped and notarised. Also be warned that you will not be able to buy spare foils for your Braun razor in Greece,so make sure that you have enough spares.
And you will be missing the gulets I bet!!

That said... You lucky sods!!!!

 

[noelex]

Don't tell everyone

If you have not cruised this time of year be aware you do need to keep a close eye on the weather.

The days when it flips from a strong northerly to strong southerly or vice versa can take a bit of planning. Not many anchorages provide protection from both and those that use marinas often grumble the protection during strong southerlies can be poor in many locations.

Other than that I have to agree most people stop too early although we stay all year and most think we are mad.

 

[charles_reed]

Don't tell everyone

If you have not cruised this time of year be aware you do need to keep a close eye on the weather.

The days when it flips from a strong northerly to strong southerly or vice versa can take a bit of planning. Not many anchorages provide protection from both and those that use marinas often grumble the protection during strong southerlies can be poor in many locations.

Other than that I have to agree most people stop too early although we stay all year and most think we are mad.

Apart from keeping an eye on the highly variable wind directions, I find the main problem is of the far shortened daylight hours. However April and October are probably the "best" times to be sailing the E Med.

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Apart from keeping an eye on the highly variable wind directions, I find the main problem is of the far shortened daylight hours. However April and October are probably the "best" times to be sailing the E Med.

Fantastic news. I am launching my boat November 7th from NW Aegean

 

[Appleyard]

We are late cruising in Greece and Turkey on the Eastern Aegean. The weather is lovely with great sailing winds. Many of the tavernas in the small places are closed up but there are still places open. We have been welcomed by the ones that remain open for business. We have never cruised this late in the season but will do so again and probably miss out July and August like we did this year. Many deserted anchorages its heaven.

What's the daytime temperature where your are?

 

[vyv_cox]

I'm not sure whether it's the case every year, Noelex will probably know the answer. I do know that twice we have come home earlier than planned in about mid-October when the weather was very poor, torrential rain and thunderstorms.

 

[alikuban]

Regarding the weather, also check the storm calendar in Rod Heikel's pilots... It is quite accurate, with a +\- a few days deviation...
For the daytime temperature, it is about 20 degC in average; nights can be as colder as 11-12 degC...

Cheers,
Ali

 

[Davy_S]

This October in the Ionian has been one of the warmest, 2 days of heavy rain but has always been warm, 22 degrees today, not time to put the shorts away yet!

 

[suebabsthenoo]

We are still out

...in Crete...gorge when sun out 80's forecast for next week,wind shifting round all the time,sat on beach wi-fing,most places shut up but prob open at weekends when Greeks come out to play.....I ramble........coz its great.!

 

[NornaBiron]

We're still out too, currently making our way to Paros en route to the Dodecanese islands for a cruise down to Crete for the winter. We plan to arrive in Crete in December and have a couple of months anchored in Spinalonga to enable us to do some work and then we'll be off again.

 

[r_h]

We frequently sail in the North and Central Aegean in October/November. You certainly do need to watch the weather and make sure you're in the right place at the right time - in the past week we've seen Force 8/9s and incredibly spectacular thunderstorms, but have also had some great sailing and decent temperatures - 25C today in the Gulf of Volos.

As long as you're somewhere safe don't be put off by a spell of bad weather - it will soon pass and you'll get more sunny days. That may, however, not be enough of an incentive if the primary reason you come here is for sun and super-hot temperatures.

 

[alikuban]

Regarding the weather, also check the storm calendar in Rod Heikel's pilots...
It is quite accurate within a +/- few days...

Daytime temperature is about 20 degC average; nights are 11-12 degC at S/E Aegean these days...

Easy winds...
Cheers,

Ali

 

[noelex]

I'm not sure whether it's the case every year, Noelex will probably know the answer. I do know that twice we have come home earlier than planned in about mid-October when the weather was very poor, torrential rain and thunderstorms.

The weather can be erratic late September. Some wonderfull days, but there can be some decent thunderstorms.
The worse winds seem to be mid November to mid December. We seem get one 50k blow each year. Usually it's forecast, but the weather predicictions become less accurate over winter so you need to be prepared.
Rapid direction shifts in the wind complicate choosing a suitable anchorage. They always seem to arrive at 3am.

 

[Stuck in France]

We are late cruising in Greece and Turkey on the Eastern Aegean. The weather is lovely with great sailing winds. Many of the tavernas in the small places are closed up but there are still places open. We have been welcomed by the ones that remain open for business. We have never cruised this late in the season but will do so again and probably miss out July and August like we did this year. Many deserted anchorages its heaven.

I'm insainely jealous!!!

I'm in the Golfe du Lion dodging gales which seem to be for two days every other day. Also the resorts are totally closed or may as well be!

 

[beormakate]

We hauled Monty B out last week in Dubrovnik. Her first winter ashore since we've been living aboard (5 years) (we are doing paint job this winter).

Spent all of October cruising around southern Croatia and it was incredible weather. Perfect temps for walking, water still warm enough last week for swimming, still a few boats around but pleasantly quiet and few land tourists. Didn't see a soul when hiking each day. Weather forecasts obsessively watched so no horrible surprises - but it is essential at this time of year to have access to decent local marine forecasts (we have USB mobile internet modem thingy for laptop). A couple of sciroccos blew through (45 knot gusts) but nothing serious as planned for it.

However, this autumn has been unusually benign weatherwise up until now.

Weren't planning to come out of water until mid Nov but forecast here in the Adriatic suddenly took a decided dip - and the long term forecast was for a lot more mew than sunshine. So we reluctantly decided to get her out and put her to bed whilst she was dry as a bone inside.

And it was the right decision. Two depressions have come through in a week; Weds night F7 gusting 60-70 knots out here on the islands and as usual, violent switch from SE to NW at the end of the cold front. And there is more set to come - the bright days being far outnumbered by the sh**e.

However, we are now homeless for the first time in 5 years and it feels pretty weird.

AND we have decided to finally get out of the Adriatic next autumn and possibly head for Crete for the winter (2013/14) - any tips? (Suebabstheno, Norna - hello!).

Katie

 

[NornaBiron]

AND we have decided to finally get out of the Adriatic next autumn and possibly head for Crete for the winter (2013/14) - any tips? (Suebabstheno, Norna - hello!).

Katie

Crete's lovely. We spend the winter on anchor in Spinalonga with no difficulties and there are others - hello noelex! The marina in Ag Nik is usually fully booked fairly early in the season - LittleRoundtop is the man to speak to about that. Cretan winters tend to be a bit warmer and drier than further north, there's loads of walking to be done and the people are very friendly. This will be our third winter in Spinalonga and we'll probably go back again next year.

 

[noelex]

The biggest attraction of Winters at anchor in Spinalonga are NornaBiron's culinary delights.

 

[jimbaerselman]

This is a quote from the weather paragraph of the Med page of my web site:

Winter. In winter (say, 1 Nov to late March), unsettled weather is common, with day temperatures around 10C to 18C. Frost is very unlikely, although winters in the N Adriatic and Sea of Marmaris (where there can be snow) and N Aegean are chilly and wet. In unsettled weather, easy access to a well sheltered harbour is vital, since truly vicious winds sometimes blow. But periods of settled weather are reliably forecast, and provide fine cruising conditions, with peak day temperatures often exceeding 20C. There are no crowds, although berths may not always be easy to find as few boats are on the move. Some tourist areas really do go to sleep, and facilities, shops and restaurants in smaller places will be shut. The transition from bustling high season August to empty September can be astonishingly abrupt.

I'd enlarge on that a bit by saying that "unsettled weather" (a period when there is a lot of cloud around) usually lasts 3 to 4 days, and over a month you will probably suffer 3 to 4 periods of unsettled weather. A bit more in November, and rather less from February onwards when the sea has cooled down.

A bit like an English summer really, except that the energy in the thunderstorms makes unsettled weather a lot more vicious, and if a big southerly sets in (a couple each winter) they can last a lot longer than a typical summer depression passage in UK.

 

[noelex]

This looks like the first bad weather for the season.
Just to give you an idea of the variability of the forecast this time of year, Thursday was forecast as 30k southerly yesterday now its a 42k north westerly.